AussieMatty wrote:
Gas prices is at worst here in Australia mate. NZ is the world worst spot.
Texas and California (oh yeas Colorado) as I knew they have higher Spanish population than Florida?
I am saving a lot money at the moment. However, I am getting paid for job at Park City anyways (including round off pensioner payment from Australian government while being over there). It seem so close to Grand Canyon and Salt Lake City (as well Las Vegas!).
Not sure what time of the year I hit those places. I am also going to Hawaii and Honolulu as well, more likely on the way back to Australia.
When I was in high school in Southern California in the early 2000's the majority shareholders as far as race goes were the Hispanics (mostly Mexican with a mixture of South American ethnicities, not Cuban like in Florida) at around 40%, and then White non-Hispanics at around 27% or so, then about 13% Black, maybe 11% Mainland "Asian" and the rest was a mix of Other Pacific Islander, Native American, and Every Other Race and Ethnicity You Could Possibly Think of. That's just the high school that I went to though.
You should definitely get some Mexican food from a family-owned place in Southern California if you like Mexican food. Just make sure it doesn't look too unclean (Alberto's is a chain joint that has some authentic-styled food but I've gotten food poisoning there).
Traffic isn't usually bad at all when going in-between rural and populated areas (in the western US anyway) except for the I-5 which is used by a lot of truckers transporting goods, and the I-15 which can get really backed up going to Vegas on Thurs/Friday and when leaving Vegas on Sunday. And of course there's always a chance of traffic due to roadwork, but you can check traffic conditions online to avoid that.
Excuse my ignorance, but do you ever get snow where you're from? If not it may be a bit frightening to drive in it at first- just be careful! Some of those mountain passes terrify me when it's snowing and/or slick with snow and ice. I've driven all over the western part of the US a lot. Once I drove through the Snoqualmie Mountain Pass in Washington while there was an insane snowstorm in the dark and I couldn't see anything and had to go like 15 mph, and even then I was swerving all over the place. That's the closest I've been to actually peeing myself due to fright. That place is a really scenic route though, especially in the fall when the leaves change colors.
I'm excited for you! The US is a really diverse place in terms of both the people and the scenery. Have you heard of "Stephen Fry in America"? It's a British mini-series that might give you some ideas about what the US is like, although I think he only scratched the very tip of the US iceburg. He barely even covered California, which seems almost like a separate country anyway.
I'm trying to remember the title of a book that a bus driver in Washington told me about; he had been all over the country in his lifetime and the book apparently did a good job of summing up North America into it's respective sociopolitical regions. I think it was "The Nine Nations of North America". I was reading a summary and reviews it just now and now I want to get a copy of it (all of my extra money seems to go towards books!).
19 May 2012, 8:00 am
